Protest mod torturen af Marwan Barghouti

Protest mod torturen af Marwan Barghouti

The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel calls on Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein

Marwan Barghouti is being interrogated by methods prohibited by the High Court of Justice

The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) yesterday, May 28, 2002, called on Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein and Talia Sasson, Director of the Department for Special Duties at the State Attorney’s office, to take action against the use of illegal methods of interrogation, designated as torture by the High Court of Justice and prohibited by the Court’s ruling of September 6,1999.

According to Hannah Friedman, Executive Director of the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, evidence collected by representatives of human rights organizations who visited Mr. Barghouti on May 21 reveals that, during his interrogation, he was placed on a small chair angled to slant forward while his hands and feet were shackled.

This method of interrogation was prohibited by the High Court of Justice. It is causing Mr. Barghouti severe pains in his hands and back. In addition, exposed nails on the back of the chair he is forced to sit on are causing him great suffering, and he is being interrogated close to 20 hours a day and deprived of sleep for days.

According to Friedman, the information received by PCATI also reveals that the GSS interrogators are threatening Barghouti saying that his son is being held at the Ashkelon Detention Center and that they will kill him, he is often prevented from meeting with his attorney and when these meetings do take place, a GSS officer is placed within hearing range, in violation of the attorney-client privlege.

“We demand that Barghouti be interrogated according to the principles of Israeli law and the Basic Law: Human Dignity and Freedom, and according to the norms and standards set by international conventions Israel has ratified. The strength of a democratic state and the rule of law is tested in times of war and in the face of the enemy”.